Staff

Medical Director

Dr. Fawaz is the Medical Director for Hallmark Youthcare. In addition, Dr. Fawaz is part of Virginia South Psychiatric and Family Services.

Dr. Fawaz received his medical degree from Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University in Egypt. He continued his senior fellow training at the University of Washington and his residency at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and his fellowship in Child Psychiatry at VCU. Dr. Fawaz is licensed in Virginia to practice Medicine and is a Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist. He is Board Certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and specializes in child, adolescent and adult Psychiatry and addictions.

Chief Administrative Officer

Di Hayes, MS is the chief Administrative Officer of Hallmark Youthcare, serving as the agency’s leader since July 2010. Ms. Hayes, a holder of Master’s Degrees in both Counseling and Recreation and Undergraduate Degree in Education has been a human-service professional for nearly thirty years. In the course of her varied career, Ms. Hayes has assumed roles of increasing responsibility and complexity, including many years dedicated to work with adolescents suffering from the effects of trauma.

As CAO, she brings a wealth of experience, grounded in her training as teacher, clinician, and administrator. She has integrated these skills to become an expert designer and manager of complex systems of care, aimed at assisting youth and families to meet their full potential.

Assistant Administrator

Brian Chizuk, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has 18 years of experience working in the human services field and for the last 15 years he has specialized in the area of residential treatment services and independent living with individuals (and their families) with dual diagnoses; working as the Residential Director and Clinical Coordinator for Group Home services across the state of Virginia. As the Assistant Administrator, his focus is on training and development of his Management Team in addition to our Youth Counselors to ensure the highest level of services are being provided to the youth we care for at Hallmark.

Human Resources Director

Celeste White received her B.S degree from Purdue University and was later certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources. She has been in Human Resources for over 25 years and has managed HR functions in a variety of industries including, aerospace, utilities, banking and healthcare. Her accomplishments have been in recruiting top talent and developing a culture of inclusion. As Director of Human Resources, her focus is to make Hallmark Youthcare an employer of choice in quality, safety and engagement. She is a native of Indiana and enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Director of Nursing

Gretchen Rhodinizer, graduated from Southside Regional Medical Center School of Professional Nursing in 1992. Completed her Bachelors Degree in Nursing from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2000. Gretchen’s been practicing as an RN for over 26 years, most of which was in the hospital setting. She transitioned into mental health working with the acute adolescent population, progressing quickly into the Nurse Manager position. Gretchen grew up in Germany and enjoys hiking in the Shenandoah National Forest!

Director of Clinical Assessment/Community Relations

Julie Plotz, MS is the Director of Clinical Assessment and Community Relations. She has been with the agency since February 1988, and in the Admissions Department since 2002. Ms. Plotz has a Master of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling and a Bachelor of Science degree in Therapeutic Recreation and Leisure Services. Ms. Plotz is an accomplished behavioral healthcare professional with 28 years experience working with children, adolescents and their families in a psychiatric residential setting. In her role, she brings a strong work ethic, strong clinical skills, effective relationship building skills and articulate communication abilities coupled with a passion for serving customers. Her commitment to helping youth is demonstrated in her ability to put incoming residents at ease and facilitate a smooth admission process.

Program Director

Gayzelle Eggleston Thomas, BS has over 27 years of experience in Mental Health, Juvenile Corrections and Rehabilitation fields. She has worked in the public and private sectors in residential treatment programs and community-based corrections. Mrs. Thomas began her career as a Juvenile Correctional Officer for the Virginia State Department of Juvenile Justice and has served as a Correctional Rehabilitation Counselor, Special Placement Counselor, Intensive In-home Counselor and an After School Counselor. As the Residential Program Director she focuses her attention to maintaining a safe and structured environment for the residents and helping them to achieve their goals.

Director of Social Work

Catherine Lemon, MSW, LCSW, has her Masters in Social Work (MSW) and her Licensed Clinical Social Work (LCSW). Catherine received her Bachelors from Radford University in 1988 and her MSW from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1992. She has over 20 years of experience working in the field of Social Work. Cathy also has past experience working as a hospital social worker, a crisis counselor in a managed mental health company, as well as an emergency services clinician for a local community services board. Cathy has extensive supervisory experience working in community based care such as Treatment Foster Care and Intensive In- Home Services. She has excellent interpersonal skills, paying close attention to detail and has great follow through and her true passion is working with children, and adolescents who have experienced trauma. Cathy has two children and in her leisure time, she enjoys playing tennis, cycling, skiing and lifting weights. She also has BIG love for music.

Education Director

Lynn Quash, M.ED has served as Education Coordinator/Director for the past seven years She has a B.S. in business education from Norfolk State University and a M.E.d in Curriculum and Instruction – Administration. Prior to joining the team at Hallmark, she served for over 14 years as a teacher and Education Coordinator at a residential treatment center in the Tidewater area. In addition, she has been an instructor at the community college level. Mrs. Quash was educated at Norfolk State University and The George Washington University. Mrs. Quash enjoys being with her students and daily seeks to have them leave the school with some information or understanding that they did not have when they arrived. This is a challenging task that she does not take lightly. She believes it is a pleasure to work with children and be a part of their growth and maturation.

Resident Advocate/Risk Manager

Sarah Hazelgrove, CTRS received a B.S. degree in Therapeutic Recreation from Longwood University. She joined the team at Hallmark in 1999 with over 18 years experience as an accomplished behavioral healthcare professional working with children, adolescents, adults and their families in a psychiatric setting. For over 13 years she served as the Activity Therapy Director for Hallmark. In her current role of Resident Advocate/Risk Manager she finds it rewarding to be able to ensure the rights of our residents and help maintain a safe environment for them to heal from trauma. She enjoys building relationships with the residents and assisting them in resolving their concerns. Sarah feels it is important to get feedback and ideas from the residents and their families in order to make improvements and be the best that we can be.

Activity Therapy Coordinator

Shakita Hart, CTRS received her B.S. in Therapeutic Recreation from Virginia Commonwealth University. She soon became a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and joined the agency’s Activity Therapy Department where she provided creative and therapeutic groups for nine years. Ms. Hart encouraged the residents to build age appropriate social relationships, develop skills of team work, and utilize appropriate coping strategies to maintain in stressful situations. She did this by providing opportunities for laughter and involvement in arts and crafts, cooking, sports, mind challenging games, and community reintegration outings. She uses many of these activities to build quality time with her family. Ms. Hart became the Coordinator of Activity Therapy in July of 2013. In her current role she hopes to communicate the benefits and importance of therapeutic recreation interventions and continue her passion of helping youth overcome traumatic experiences and strive to develop healthy leisure life styles.

Food Service Director

Matthew Novosel is originally from Clarkston Michigan where he began his career in food service as a teenager. Matt has compiled nearly twenty years as a chef in many restaurants, most notably Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington Pennsylvania and the Silver Tree Inn at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland. Matt moved to the food service side in 1992. Joining Lankford Sysco Food Services as Executive Chef and test Kitchen Manager. Matt has been a Serve Safe, safe food handling instructor for over 16 years. He is looking forward to this new setting and is happy to be a part of the Hallmark team.

Therapy Dog

Jeter was adopted in September 2014 by the family of Hallmarks Chief Clinical Officer, Brian Chizuk. Jeter was named after recently retired Yankee great, Derek Jeter. This dog’s sweet personality and calm demeanor made him a great candidate to serve as a therapy dog. After months of training with Brian and Deborah Moore of Siriusly Canine LLC, Jeter received his Canine Good Citizen Certificate and later his Alliance of Therapy Dogs Certification....Read Jeter's Full Story Here